Buttonhole-sewing machine.



PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905.

E. B. ALLEN; BUTTO'NHOLE SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 26. 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

" Wow PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Q g H E. B. ALLEN.

BUTTONHOLE SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEG.26. 1903.

PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905.

E. B. ALLEN. BUTTONHOLE SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEG.261903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

EDWARD B. ALLEN, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE SINGER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

BUTTONHOLE-SEWING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 12, 1905.

Application filed December 26, 1903. Serial No, 186,611-

To (l/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD B. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buttonhole-Sewing Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to an improvement in buttonhole stitching and barring machines;

and it has for its primary object to provide means whereby the action of the barring devices may be wholly interrupted or may be controlled to produce any given number of stitches. It also has for its object to effect the interruption or the continuance of the feeding action at the ends of a buttonhole.

The invention consists in the devices herein shown and described for effecting such objects.

In the drawings annexed, Figure 1 is an elevation of a buttonhole stitching and barring machine embodying the present improvement with certain portions broken out to show the construction and arrangement of parts behind the same. Fig. 2is a plan, upon a larger scale, of the forward portion of the overhanging arm with thecap-plate of the casing inclosing the timing mechanism of the barring devices removed. Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the arm of the machine on the axial line of the feed-shaft. Fig. 4 is a partial plan view of the overhanging arm with the cap-plate of the barring-mechanism casing and the parts above the same in position. Fig. 5 is a plan of the under side of the machine, and Fig. 6 a top view of the feed-cam and its connections with the work-clamp slides. -Fig. 7 is a detail view of a portion of the feed-actuating mechanism, and Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view of one of the devices for interrupting the normal automatic action of the barring and feeding mechanisms.

My present improvement is shown applied toa buttonhole stitching and barring machine adapted to work straight buttonholes forming the subject of my United States Patent" No. 738,591, of September 8, 1903, the operative parts of the barring mechanism being in the form disclosed in my patent application, Serial No. 182,445, filed November 2 1, 1903. As shown and described in the Said patent and patent application, the machine embodying my present improvement is constructed with the work-plate 2, overhanging arm 3, driving-shaft 1, having the usual crank and pitman connections with the needle-bar 7, having the needle 8 and carried by the swinging frame or gate a, mounted on pivotal centers 9 10 and deriving its swingin g movements from the cam-wheel 11, geared to the shaft 4 and having a cam-groove 12 entered by a pin or stud 13 on an arm of the lever or rocker I), having its fulcrum or center of motion at 1 1 and connected through the bar 15, slotted swinging arm 16, and link 17 with an arm 18 of the needle-bar frame, the link 17 being adjustable to and from the screw-stud 21, upon which the arm 16 is pivoted by means of the screw 19 entering the slot in said arm. The bar is pivotally connected at its forward end to the swinging arm 16 by the screw 22. The lever or rocker b is provided with two pins 23 and 24:, the latter being adjustable, located at different distances from the fulcrum or center of motion 14 of said lever or rocker, and the bar 15 is provided with notches 25 and 26 for alter nate engagement with said pins.

The bar 15 is normally held by a spring in such position that the narrow part of the notch will embrace the pin 23, so that the parts will be in side-stitching position, and the said bar is at the proper times automatically shifted to barring position, with the contracted portion of the notch 26 embracing the pin 24. To this end the bar 15 is provided with a pin 28, arranged to be engaged by a spring-pressed pawl 29, pivotally connected with the upper end of the bent lever 30, fulcrumed in brackets 31 on the arm 3, an inturned finger upon the lower portion of said lever being held by means of the stiff spring 35 in peripheral contact with the double snail-cam 32, mounted upon the vertical shaft 33, carrying the feed-wheel and rotating therewith, the feed-wheel imparting to the work-clamp the usual longitudinal feeding and lateral shifting movements.

At the end of the first side-stitching operation the cam 32 has caused the pawl 29 to move upon its pivotal connection with the brackets 31 and through the pawl 29 and pin 28 to draw the bar 15 outward into engagement with the pin 24 and out of engagement with the pin 23, so as to increase the throw of the needle-bar frame to form the barring-stitches.

The number of stitches for each bar is governed by a ratchet-wheel 36, provided with a curved controlling-plate 37, let into a corresponding'groove 39 in the top of said wheel, in respect of which it is adjustable by means of a set-screw entering a segmental slot 38in the plate 37. The ratchet-wheel 36 is given intermittent forward rotary movements during the barring operations by a spring-pressed operating-pawl 40, mounted on the lever or rocker Z), a detent-pawl 41, pivoted on a screw or stud 42, fixed to the bracket-arm 3, being provided to prevent the return motion of the ratchet-wheel. The operating-pawl 40 is provided with a tripping-arm 43, arranged to be engaged by a lug or projection 44 on the bar 15, and the detent-pawl 41 is provided beyond its operative tooth with a finger or projection 45, adapted to be engaged by the pawl 40 when the latter is thrown out of operative relation with the wheel 36 to render said wheel free to effect its return movement to initial position under the impulse of the spring 46. (Shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.)

From the foregoing it will be observed that when the bar 15 is shifted into barring relation its shoulder or projection 44 being withdrawn from engagement with the trippingarm 43 will permit the operating-pawl 40 and detentpawl 41 under the action of their springs -and 51, respectively, to drop into operative relation with the ratchet-wheel 36, in which relation they remain until an upwardly-projecting lug 52 upon the controllingplate 37 by engagement with one arm of a bent lever 53, pivoted at 54 upon the cap-plate 55, causes the turning movement of suchlever so that its other arm engages the contact-finger 47 of the pawl member 29, which operates to release the pin 28 to permit the bar 15 to return to initial position under the action of the spring 20, the engagement of its shoulder or projection 44 with the trip ping-arm 43 serving to throw out of action the operating-pawl 40 and detent-pawl 41, thereby permitting the ratchet-wheel 36 under the action of its spring 46 to return to initial position with the shoulder 49 of the peripheral notch therein in en gagement with the adjustable stop-pin 48, projecting through a slot 56 in the cam-plate from a pointer-arm 57, by which it is carried. The position of the stop-pin 48, as indicated by the scale, in conjunction with the pointer 57, determines the initial position of the ratchet-wheel, which in turn determines the number of barring-stitches to be applied to the end of a buttonhole, as in my former patent before mentioned.

As in my said patent, the feeding mechan- Each projection 61 of the arm 58 is engaged by the inner end of a clutch-dog 62, of which the outer end is slotted to embrace the circular rib or flange 63 of the feed-wheel 60, these clutch-dogs, in conjunction with the vibrating projections 61 and springs 64, serving to impart intermittent or step-by-step rotary movements to the feed-wheel.

The rod 151 has a notch 65 entered by the lug 66 of the lever 67, pivoted to the rod or part 152, such lug being normally held in its notch 65 by a spring 68, acting on said lever 67 to couple together the two sections 151'and 152 of the twopart connecting-rod thereby formed. When the bar 15 is shifted laterally from side-stitching position to barring position, its tail engages the upper end of the lever 67, and thereby withdraws its lug 66from the notch 65, whereby the rod 151 is caused to move idly in the socket of the rod 152, and the feeding movement of the feed-cam is thereby interrupted, and the restoration of the bar 15 to initial or side-stitching position similarly causes the lever 67, under the action of its spring 68, to return the lug 66 to its notch in the rod 151, whereby the sections of the two-part feed-actuating rod are recoupled and the actuation of the feed mechanism is continued.

To communicate to the work-clamp the requisite longitudinal feeding movements, the feed-wheel 60 has in its upper face a camgroove 69, entered by a pin or roller-stud 70 on the arm 71 of a clamp-feeding lever pivoted to the work-plate 2, with the curved and slotted arm 72, having adjustably connected thereto one end of a pitman 73, with its other end attached to a pin or stud 74, depending from or connected with the work-clamp baseplate 75, which slides longitudinally in a transverse plate 76, mounted for lateral sliding movement on the work-plate 2. The lateral or shifting movements of the clamp are' derived from a cam-groove 77 in the feedwheel 60 through a shifting-lever 78, having at its rear end a pin or roller-stud entering said cam-groove and having at its forward end a connection with the transverse plate or slide 76 by means of a set-screw 79 entering a slot in said plate or slide. The shifting-lever 78 swings on an adjustable fulcrum-block 80 of well-known form. The plate 75 carries a work-clamp 89, which may be of any suitable construction.

The stitch-forming mechanism, as shown herein, comprises the needle 8,already referred to,and complemental lock-stitch mechanism of the well-known Singer oscillating-shuttle type, the latter not being specifically illustrated herein, as it forms no part of the present invention.

In the stitching of buttonholes for various classes of work upon material known as white goods it is sometimes desired to vary the character of the bar at the end or ends of the buttonhole for certain different conditions and at other times it is equally desirable to perform the stitching without producing the usual bar intermediate the two lines of side stitches. Heretoforeithas been found impracticable to perform these several kinds of work upon the same machine. By the present improvement, however, I have provided means whereby any number of barstitches up to a given maximum may be formed intermediate the series of side stitches, or the bar-stitches may be wholly omitted.

For the temporary use of the machine when the work requires the omission of bar-stitches, the slot 56 in the cover-plate 55 for the stopstud 48 being extended sufficiently far backward toward the rear of the overhanging arm 3, the pointer-arm 57 is set in the dotted-line or zero position indicated in Fig. 4, in which position its enlarged portion, carrying the stud 18, serves as a stop against which the bent lever 53 rests, which in turn by the engagement of its downturned finger with the contact-finger 17 of the pawl-lever 29 in opposition to the action of the spring 59, maintains the pawl-lever 29 in inoperative relation to the stud 28 upon the bar 15, whereby the reciprocation of such pawl-lever under the action of the snail-cam 32 and spring 35 fails to produce the periodical shifting of the bar 15 from side-stitching to barring position, and hence wholly interrupts the normal automatic operation of the barring and feed-interrupting devices.

It will thus be seen that the pointer-arm 57, as herein shown and described, performs two separate and distinct functions, one of which is to carry the stop-pin 18 for the ratchetwheel 36, and thereby establishthe initial position of such ratchet-wheel to determine the duration of production of lateral movements of increased amplitude communicated to the needlebar, while its other function when thrown to extreme position is to engage the longer arm of the lever 53 and retain it in its extreme position, wherein it maintains the pawl-lever 29 in inoperative position. It is to be observed, however, that even were the head of, this pointer-arm so shaped as to enable it to so position the stop-pin as to cause the lug 52, carried by the ratchet-wheel, to maintain the bent lever 53 in the extreme position described the same result would be attained in that the spring-pressed pawl-lever 29 would then be retained in inoperative position. The additional function of the controlling device involving the pointer-arm 53 over that of the corresponding device of my prior patent, No. 738,591, before mentioned is, therefore, the capacity of rendering the barring mechanism absolutely inoperative and of no effect in addition to its control of the number of barring-stitches produced in each barred buttonhole. It will thus be observed that the pointer-arm has really two ranges of movement, one within the limits in which it determines the period of action of the barproducing .means and the other beyond such limits in which its action is to render such barproducing means inoperative.

When it is desired to entirely throw out of action the barring and feed-interrupting devices, which may be termed the bar-producing means, the operation of the lever 30 may be suspended by introducing under its lower end the notched lower extremity of a lever 81, having at its opposite end an aperture entered by the enlarged shank portion of the shouldered fastening-screw 82, serving to hold the usual side cover 83 in position, a springwasher 84; being interposed between the said lever and the head of the fastening-screw 82. The'stop-lever is shown provided with a handle 85 and with a hole 86 intermediate its ends for cooperation with projections 87, formed upon the cover 83, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 8, to retain such lever yieldingly in its operative and inoperative positions, respectively, in and out of engagement with the lever 30.

By means of this stop-lever the wear upon before mentioned, for producing the effect above described, or such former construction may be modified, as indicated in Fig. 4 of the accompanying drawings, to extend the limits of adjustment of the controlling device for the barring mechanism, when the stoplever 81 may be dispensed with, excepting in cases wherein the machine is designed to be used for long periods with the automatic barring mechanism inactive. It is evidently immaterial to what particular spring-actuated member of the barring or feed-interrupting mechanisms is applied the stop member, such as the lever 81 or the pointer-arm 57, as the desired result will be attained by throwing out of action any member of the train intermediate the timing-cam and the part or parts to be affected.

In some instances it has been found desirable to produce a bar at the end or ends of buttonholes by merely interrupting the feed Without varying the length of overseamstitches. It is evident that the present improvement is equally adapted for controlling the feeding mechanism independently of the barring mechanism by the mere employment of a longitudinally-reciprocating member actuated from the cam 11, whereby the pins 23 and 24 will receive equal movements in lieu of the rocking member 6, carrying said pins, herein shown and described, for which reason the present improvement is not limited to a device for interrupting the automatic operation of the barring mechanism. It will thus be seen that the particular construction and arrangement of parts herein shown and described are not essential to the present invention, nor is the particular type of stitching and barring machine in connection with which it is herein disclosed, its essential feature being the means whereby the machine may be adjusted for producing any number of barring or tacking stitches up to a given maximum or no barring-stitches at all, as may be required for the class of work for which it may be employed.

I have not claimed herein broadly the means herein set forth whereby a buttonhole-machine is fitted for making either barred or unbarred buttonholes, as the same forms the subject of my application Serial No. 208,366, filed May 17 1904, the present invention being directed to that feature of the controlling device for determining the number of barringstitches whereby such device is adapted to be rendered wholly inoperative when desired.

Having thus set forth the invention, what I claim herein is 1. In a buttonhole stitching and barring machine, the combination With stitch-forming mechanism, a Work-holder, means for producing a relative movement of the stitch-forming mechanism and the work-holder to space the v stitches, and means for producing a relative vibratory movement between the stitch-forming mechanism and the work-holder to form the side stitches, of barring mechanism for varying the relative movement between the stitch forming mechanism and the workholder in producing barring-stitches at the ends of the buttonhole and comprisinga member adapted to be shifted through certain limits to control the number of bar-stitches produced and beyond such limits to render said barring mechanism inoperative.

2. In a buttonhole stitching and barring machine, the combination With stitch-forming mechanism, a work-holder, means for produc-.

ing a relative movement of the stitch-forming mechanism and the work-holder to space the stitches, and means for producing a relative vibratory movement between the stitch-forming mechanism and the work-holder to form the side stitches, of barring mechanism for varying the relative movement between the stitch forming mechanism and the workholder in producing barring-stitches at the ends of the buttonhole and comprising a normally' stationary member adapted to be shifted through certain limits to control the number of bar-stitches produced and beyond said limits to render said barring mechanism inoperative.

3. In a buttonhole stitching and barring machine, the combination with stitch-forming mechanism, a work-holder, means for producing a relative feeding movement of the stitchforming mechanism and the work-holder to space the stitches, and means for producing a relative vibratory movement between the stitch forming mechanism and the workholder to form the side stitches, of bar-producing means comprising mechanism for increasing the relative vibratory movement between the stitch-forming mechanism and the work-holder, means for arresting the relative movement of the stitclrforming mechanism and Work at the ends of the buttonhole in producing barring-stitches, and means for determining the period of operation of said barproducing means includingacontrolling mem ber adapted to be shifted within certain limits to vary the period of action of the bar-producing means and beyond said limits to render said bar-producing means'inoperative.

4. In a buttonhole stitching and barring machine, the combination with stitch forming mechanism including a vertically-reciprocating and laterally-movin g needle, and a continuously-vibrating member from which the lat eral movements of said needle are derived through a suitable connection, of an automatically-acting device for changing the point of attachment of the needle connection with said vibrating member and thereby producing an increased amplitude of the needle movements,'and controlling means adapted for determining the period of action of said device and including an adjustable member constructed and arranged to be shifted so as to vary the period of action of said device or to render it wholly inoperative.

5. In a buttonhole stitching and barring machine, the combination with stitch-forming mechanism including a verticallyreciprocating needle and a laterally-moving frame in which the same is mounted, feeding mechanism, a continuously-vibrating member having pins at different distances from its center of motion, a connection intermediate the needleframe and said vibrating member including a link-bar adapted to engage either of said pins, a spring for yieldingly holding said link-bar in engagement with one of said pins, a pawllever deriving reciprocating movements periodically from said feeding mechanism and adapted to shift said link-bar into engagement with the other of said pins, and a pawl releasing device comprising; an oscillating member carrying a tripping-lug and having a step-bystep rotary movement initiated and terminated by the shifting of said link-bar, and a lever having two arms disposed suitably for engagement respectively with said tripping-lug and with said pawl-lever.

6. In abuttonhole stitching and barring machine, the combination with stitch-forming mechanism including a vertically-reciprocating needle and a laterally-moving frame in which the same is mounted, feeding mechanism, a continuously-vibrating member having pins at difierent distances from its center of motion, a connection intermediate the needleframe and said vibrating member including a link-bar adapted to engage either of said pins, a spring for yieldingly holding said link-bar in engagement with one of said pins, a pawllever deriving reciprocating movements periodically from said feeding mechanism and adapted to shift said link-bar into engagement with the other of said pins, and a pawlreleasing device comprising zispring-ret'racted oscillating member having a stop-shoulder and carrying a tripping-lug to which is communicated a step-by-step forward rotary movement initiated and terminated by the shifting of said link-bar, an adjustable stop-pin adapted to engage the stop-shoulder of said oscillating member, and a lever having two arms disposed suitably for engagement respectively with mechanism including a vertically-reciprocating needle and a laterally-moving frame in which the same is mounted, feeding mechanism, a continuously-vibrating member having pins at different distances from its center of motion, a connection intermediate the needleframe and said vibrating member including a link-bar adapted to engage either of said pins, a spring for yieldingly holding said link-bar in engagement with one of said pins, a pawllever deriving reciprocating movement periodically from said feeding mechanism and adapted to shift said link-bar into engagement with the other of said pins, and a pawl-releasing device comprising a spring-retracted oscillating member having a stop-shoulder and carrying a tripping-lug to which is communicated a step-by-step forward rotary movement initiated and terminated by the shifting of said link-bar, a stop-pin adapted to engage the stop-shoulder of said oscillating member, and a lever having two arms disposed suit ably for engagement respectively with said tripping-lug and with said pawl-lever, said stop-pin being adjustable between certain operable limits to control the timing of the shifting of said link-bar by determining the initialposition of said oscillating member and adapted for further movement to lock said pawllever continuously in non-engaging relation with said link-bar.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD B. ALLEN.

Witnesses:

HENRY J MILLER, HENRY A. KORNEMANN, Jr. 

